Rumours that Kim Jong-un, the country’s supreme leader, was assassinated at the North Korean embassy in Beijing just months after he took power originated on Chinese microblogging service Weibo, and spread swiftly on Twitter on Friday.

Jong-un was thrust into power in the communist nation after the death of his father Kim Jong-il. Believed to be in his 20s, Kim Jong-un and his inexperience have sparked concern in the international community over whether he is capable of ruling North Korea.

Some reported Jong-un wasn’t actually dead, but that some kind of coup was taking place. By Friday afternoon, the North Korean government — admittedly not well known for their transparency with the outside world — had neither confirmed nor denied the rumours.

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About Haley Behre

I graduated from Syracuse University in December 2011 with majors in newspaper journalism and women and gender studies. Using these majors, I aspire to become a journalist who writes about human rights issues.
I have held internships at the Syracuse New Times, Dash Media PR Firm, Syracuse Post-Standard and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. I also had an internship at the Not For Sale Campaign Syracuse chapter, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating human trafficking.
I was born in Seoul, Korea on September 30, 1990 and moved to the United States before I was one year old. When I was 8, my family and I moved to Norwich, England for three years. While I was here I was immersed into a new culture and got to experience many things other children my age do not get to. Over the three years, I visited Ireland, France and the Netherlands several times, and Belgium, Wales and Sweden once.
In the winter of 2010, I got an amazing opportunity to visit Kenya for a month. This was by far the single most eye-opening experience of my life thus far. The natural beauty of the landscape and its people do not compare to anything I have seen.
I currently intern for the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press in the hopes of getting a full-time job at a newspaper or non-profit after.